Chapter 364: 191. The Boundary Between Life and Death-1 (Part One)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
A long time ago, Allen had an opportunity to browse a book related to the topics of Purgatory.
That event took place inside the Imperial Palace’s library.
Allen, perched up on the top of a ladder that was leaning against a tall bookshelf so that he could check out this particular book, asked Alice below, “You know something?”
“…?” She looked up at him on the ladder.
“The ‘Purgatory’ often described as Hell doesn’t really exist.”
He got to see the truth for himself in Aihrance, and during the Holy King coronation as well..
Alice nodded in agreement. She could also faintly remember seeing it during the coronation. “In reality, Purgatory is Hell, Your Majesty. It is ruled by the God of Death, Yudai.”
Hell, a place where those who committed sins would end up. But Allen found that part of the explanation somewhat suspicious.
The Necromancers worshipped the God of Death. When they died, they would become dead souls and become trapped in Purgatory, in other words.
When Allen brought this point up, Alice shook her head. “No, sire. It’s a different story for the Necromancers or those who worship the God of Death.” She rubbed her chin in deep contemplation before continuing on. “They see themselves as true believers who will assist the God of Death and co-exist with him within Purgatory.”
Apparently, the Necromancers believed that when they experienced an honourable death, or even when their natural lifespan came to an end, they would naturally go to the side of the God of Death.
“Does that mean there’s Heaven, then?”
“Heaven, sire? You mean, the Heavenly World?”
Allen nodded at Alice’s return question.
He had heard a lot about Purgatory, but for some reason, there wasn’t all that much talk about this Heavenly World thing.
After Kelt passed away, the members of the clergy kept bringing up the Heavenly World over and over again, even while burying his coffin. Of course Allen would get curious after that.
He wondered if something like that really existed.
“Of course, sire. Except that…” Alice replied while closing the bible she was reading, then carefully stroking its cover. “Purgatory and the Heavenly World are almost one and the same.”
The two worlds existed on either sides of a boundary. This boundary, as thin as a piece of paper, split the Heavenly World and Purgatory, according to her explanation.
The dead souls in Purgatory could enter the Heavenly World by paying for their sins and being purified, thereby gaining an opportunity to earn a new life. On the other hand, committing a crime in the Heavenly World would get you sent to Purgatory to become one of the walking dead instead.
Alice got up from her chair and began searching through a distant corner of the library. She eventually found a certain book. It looked very old. She dusted its cover off carefully and then had to gently blow some cobwebs away, too.
She cautiously flipped open its pages and showed the contents within to Allen.
“The reason why the Heavenly World doesn’t get mentioned often despite its existence is simple, Your Majesty.” She formed a wry smile and continued on, “It is because that place is supposed to be quite similar to Purgatory.”
There was an illustration on the pages of this book. It depicted both the Heavenly World and Purgatory, but the latter had a dark and ominous background, while the former had a pure white one.
The members of clergy in the ancient times didn’t want to acknowledge this. They loathed the fact that Yudai, the ruler of Purgatory, and Gaia, the ruler of the Heavenly World, were existing side by side with only the slimmest boundary splitting them.
They just couldn’t accept that the Heavenly World was not the paradise they thought it was, a place of abundant riches. That was why they tried to hide the truth even now.
“If there was one distinct difference between the Heavenly World and Purgatory, then it would be that while one is a world covered in rotting flesh and blood, the other is a world of life filled with fragrant grass and life-giving water, Your Majesty.”
**
‘Uh?’
Allen began staggering unsteadily. His consciousness dimmed without any warning.
The divinity within his body was rapidly draining out. Strength abandoned his legs, and he even went down on his knees.
His focus was getting blurrier as his vision rapidly grew darker.
‘What is this? What’s wrong with me all of a sudden?!’
His breathing clogged up, and his entire body felt heavy and lethargic. His mind was sinking quickly into pure darkness.
‘Alice did warn me before, but I had no idea it…’
He was now beset by incredible pain, akin to his whole body being ripped apart.
‘…Would be this painful?!’
His hearing was next to go numb.
He smelled a thick metallic odour in his nostrils, and began tasting blood in his mouth. Crimson tears of blood even began trickling down from his eyes.
Both Amon’s Skull and Avaldi’s Spear were going out of control. They continued to amplify his divinity, but his body could no longer keep up.
‘No, I must endure it! At least until I kill that bastard Surtr!’
Death was swiftly coming to visit him.
**
For a moment there, Surtr mistakenly thought that it was being choked to death. The Fire Giant raised its head up and stared at the Skeleton King, before clumsily stumbling backwards.
This undead creature towered over forty metres high. Blades fashioned from bones jutted out from its lower torso and repeatedly opened and snapped shut, as if they were fangs of a ferocious insect.
The undead lifted up its hooves and kicked the ground. In the meantime, tens of thousands of undead leapt out from the surface of holy water, screeching and howling out loudly.
-What the hell are they?!-
-They are merely insects! Stomp them all to death!-
The giants belonging to Surtr’s forces roared out and pounced bravely on the undead rushing in at them like tidal waves. Unfortunately for them, though, the undead really were like an unstoppable tsunami wave rising up high.
The wall of undead reached dozens of metres high, and began shoving the Jötnar back ruthlessly. These undead creatures clung to the giants and began biting and tearing at their victims.
Initially, the giants believed that these measly little undead insects couldn’t possibly do much against them, but then hundreds of them had latched on and began gouging out the flesh of the giants little by little, causing unspeakable pain to their victims.
Most importantly of all, the giants could sense a bone-chilling cold aura emanating from all of these undead.
That attribute was capable of freezing all things, and was eerily similar to Hrímr’s…
These undead also possessed it!
In the end, the giants began to fall one by one. Their flames went out and they were frozen solid. But they didn’t stay down for long after getting bitten to death, as they began standing back up again. They had been revived as zombies, their eyes burning eerily now.
‘W-what is this…? Hell? Is this hell?!’
Surtr was treated to a vivid spectacle of its kin being brutally murdered. It then turned its head to look in front of itself.
Ghosts were flying all around the Skeleton King, singing sacred hymns. The huge undead breathed out heavily while standing tall among the deluge of undead.
Ripples of a pure white aura were spreading out.
A golden sword leapt out from the surface of the holy water, and the Skeleton King snatched it up.
‘That, that has to be a true monster! It’s using some kind of strange magic, too!’ Surtr gripped its own sword tightly.
Should it run away?
No, that didn’t seem possible now. Judging from the overall appearance of the gigantic undead’s lower torso, its mobility should be far superior to Surtr’s.
In that case, the only way for the Fire Giant to survive this crisis was to kill the undead creature right before its eyes!
‘Yes, I shall use that again!’
Surtr was thinking of going with its final all-out attack one more time.
Even if all the Mana circulating inside its body was to be exhausted and as a result the giant ended up burning down to nothingness by its own flames, it simply could not afford to let this incredible undead be.
If left alone, the giants’ plan of reverting the world back to its primordial nature would come crumbling down in one breath.
Surtr sucked in a deep breath and raised its sword up high.
Fiercely-burning flames enveloped the giant as its eyes glared murderously at the Skeleton King. Eventually, the flames even permeated the huge blade.
‘I shall imbue it with a fire capable of destroying this world!’
Nothing in this world could not be burned down, and not a thing in this world could withstand being burned out of existence, either!
-I am the King of Fire!-
Surtr leapt up high, both of its arms raised up.
-Even death can be burned down by fire itself! And that will be the true end of everything!-
The skies turned crimson. Everything in the vicinity was set alight.
Countless undead below reached out towards Surtr and began rising up in the air as well, but the choking heat melted them down first, extinguishing them from existence.
-I am the true death, so hear me, Skeleton King! You should just melt down and cease to exist altogether!-
As if to answer that, Skeleton King’s four hands tightly grasped his golden sword.
-Oh King of Fire, you are labouring under a foolish delusion.-
The four hooves firmly drove into the ground to support the undead’s huge body.
-No matter what kind of flame it is, it is bound to die. End exists for all things, and that is the true meaning of death.-
The golden sword was swung powerfully upwards.
The two blades angrily collided in mid-air.
